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Copyright, 1924, 
by the 

Southern Publishing Association 
Nashville, Tennessee. 

Printed in U.S.A. 


( 4 ) 

APR-7’24 < 



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To THE little boys who in¬ 
spired the writing of these 
stories, and to all boys and 
girls in the whole wide 
world, this little book is 
dedicated, with the hope 
that it may be of help in 
their character building. 


(5) 


Building Every Day 

“We are building ev’ry day, 

At our work and at our play; 

Not with hammer, blow on blow, 

Not the timber sawing so: 

Building a house not made with hands, 
Following Father’s perfect plans; 

Little builders all are we, 

Building for eternity. 

“We are building ev’ry day, 

Actions are the stones we lay; 

Jesus, our Foundation sure, 

Built on Him we are secure. 

Many a house has fallen low, 

Built on the sands of sin and woe; 

We will heed His word alone, 

He’s the only Corner stone.’’ 


(6) 


Read This First 


“Mother/’ asked a little boy one day, 
“ if a building with twenty stories is called 
a skyscraper because it scrapes the sky, 
what would a twenty-five story building 
be called?” 

“Oh, I know,” he shouted before his 
mother had time to answer, “it would be 
a sky piercer.” 

Every one of us may build a building 
greater than a skyscraper if we will. For a 
good and noble life not only reaches as 
high as men can see, but it is worthy of a 
place in heaven. It is a “sky piercer.” 

This little book will show the children 
how to build this greatest of all buildings, 
so that a fire cannot burn it up nor an 
earthquake shake it down, and it will 
stand forever. 


(7) 



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Chapter Headings 

1. A Building I Watched Men 

Build ... 13 

2. The Building You Are Build- 

ing - - - - 23 

3. Good and Bad Stones - 31 

4. The Little Girl Who 

Wanted the Teakettle 35 

5. The Little Mouse that 

Didn’t Mind - - 39 

6. Adam and Eve Use Some 

Bad Stones - - - 45 

7. How Tommy Overcame 

Temptation - - - 49 

8. Honest Abe - 53 

9. George and the Colt - 59 

10. The Faithful Old Black¬ 

smith - - - 69 

11. A Little Boy Who Didn’t 

Know His Name - - 77 

M 


IO 


Little Builders 


12. A Little Helper Engine 83 

13. About a Flashlight - 89 

14. The House With the 

Golden Windows - 95 

15. The New Clothes Rack ioi 

16. A Boy With Yellow Fingers 105 

17 . Two Selfish Dogs - - 111 

18. A Runaway - - - 117 



(II) 































CHAPTER I 

A Building I Watched Men Build 

Y OU boys and girls have all seen men 
building houses or other kinds of 
buildings, haven't you? And most of you 
like to watch the men at their work. 

I want to tell you about a large building 
I have been watching some men make as I 
have gone to and from my work each day. 
I had to go by this place each morning and 
evening, and it was interesting to see just 
how much the building had grown since I 
went by the time before. Sometimes I 
stopped and watched the men as they 
worked. 

The first I knew that a building was to 
be built was when one morning I saw 
workmen clearing away the rubbish from 
a vacant lot. Some men with a measuring 
line were carefully counting off so many 

(u) 



H 


Little Builders 


feet this way, and so many feet that way. 
Then they drove stakes in the ground, and 
were very particular that they put them in 
just the right place. I saw then that they 
must be going to build something, and 
began to wonder if it would be just a 
small, low building, or a great, tall sky¬ 
scraper with many stories. 

But I didn’t have to wonder long, for 
the next time I went by there was a large 
machine standing on the lot, and there 
were many horses and wagons too. That 
large machine was a steam shovel. It 
was digging a hole in the ground. 

How much faster it could dig than you 
or I could! It would put its great iron 
hand down into the earth and get a hand¬ 
ful; then lift it up, and empty it into a 
wagon that was standing near. About 
three handfuls of this great machine’s iron 
hand would fill a wagon, and the man 
would drive away and another wagon 
would be driven up to be loaded. Not 
many days passed until the shovel had 
made a large hole, deeper than the houses 
some of you live in. Maybe you wonder 







Little Builders 


15 


why they dug such a large hole before they 
began to make the building. I will tell 
you why. They wanted to build a strong 
foundation on which the building could 
rest. When they make a small house they 
do not need such a strong foundation, but 
when they build a skyscraper they have to 
dig away down into the earth and make a 
strong foundation. The tall buildings are 
called skyscrapers because they seem to 
reach almost up to the sky. They were 
making a strong foundation, so I knew this 
was going to be a tall building. 

The steam shovel stayed there for about 
two weeks, and then they took it away and 
began to put in the foundation. In a little 
while we will talk about another building, 
and you must remember that the founda¬ 
tion is the part of a building which is al¬ 
ways made first. 

The men with the horses and wagons 
hauled a great pile of stones, and other 
men carried them down into the big hole. 
Then some of the men, called stone¬ 
masons, began to lay the stones into a wall 
for the foundation. The stones had to be 



16 Little Builders 

placed in the wall one by one, and they 
were very careful to pick out the ones 
which would fit just right. Sometimes they 
would throw a stone away which they 
thought was not good enough to go into 
the wall. If one bad stone were put into 
the wall, the whole building might tumble 
down. The stones in the wall were fas¬ 
tened together with cement and sand, and 
when it was all dry it was like one big 
stone. 

When the foundation walls were fin¬ 
ished the bricklayers began to lay the 
bricks to make the walls of the building. 
As I watched them I noticed how careful 
they were to see that every brick was laid 
exactly straight, and that it fit in just so. 
If some had been put in crooked, they 
might have ruined the wall. 

Then there were great, long pieces of 
iron to make what we call the framework, 
and these were fastened together with 
long iron bolts. I thought of what might 
happen if some of the men did not fasten 
those together well,— the building might 
fall and kill many people. 
















Little B uilders 


17 


The carpenters also were there at work. 
We all like to watch the carpenters. When 
we think of them, what tools do we think 
of ? I think I know what you will say. In 
these pages you will find pictures of many of 
the tools the carpenters and plumbers and 
other workmen use. See if you can name 
them. The carpenter has a whole box of 
tools, but we can’t name all of them. They 
were careful to see that every board they 
sawed was exactly right, and if it was 
rough they took their planes and planed 
all the roughness off; for they did not want 
any bad boards to go into such a fine 
building. 

Before this skyscraper was done, the 
plumber came with all his wrenches and 
other tools, and put in the water pipes. 
Then the electrician put in the lights. But 
still the building was not finished, for the 
painter had to come and paint it. I liked 
to watch him mix his paints, for he was 
particular that they were mixed just so, 
and he was very careful as he put the 
paint on the wood with his brushes. The 
building would not look very well if the 





i 8 


Little Builders 


painter did not do his work skillfully. 

While all these men were working there 
was a man who held a blue paper in his 
hand and walked around and watched 
them, to see that they did their work well, 
— that they did not put in any bad stones, 
bricks, or boards. They called him the 
contractor, and they told me he was really 
to blame if any work was poorly done. 

It was a beautiful building when it was 
all finished, and it looked so straight and 
tall it hardly seemed possible it could ever 
fall. I had watched them put in such a 
strong foundation, I felt it would stand 
for a long, long time. 

But this beautiful building makes me 
think of another building which I pass 
every day as I go to work. It is crooked 
and ugly,— one side is higher than the 
other, and I wonder each time I go by if 
sometime it will not fall over. I wonder 
if you can guess what made it that way. 
I looked at it carefully and noticed that it 
did not have a good foundation on which 
to rest, and one side had settled down 
lower than the other. Some day it will 










Underwood & Underwood 


The building I watched men build. 























Little Builders 21 

either fall down, or have to be torn down. 
The one who made it was not careful to 
see that it was built right. If he had been, 
it might have stood many years longer. 

But we were going to talk about a build¬ 
ing you yourselves are building, so let us 
think about that for a while. 




rrmwnrrrr 























































































CHAPTER II 


The Building You Are Building 

Y OU wonder what I mean when I say 
you are making buildings, too. Did 
you not know that you are little builders? 
You are, and many people are watching 
you every day to see just what kind of 
buildings you are going to make. They are 
wondering if they will be small ones, or 
great tall skyscrapers. And your papas 
and mamas are so anxious that you shall 
put good foundations under them. After 
they have watched you for a while they 
can tell just what kind of buildings they 
will be because of the foundations you are 
building. 

You say you don’t know how to use a 
hammer or a saw or any of the other tools, 
so how can you build anything? Well, 
maybe some of you girls don’t know 





24 


Little Builders 


how to use tools, but most of the boys do. 

The building you are building we call 
CHARACTER. That is a big word and 
we must find out what it means. It means 
this,— if someone is very good, we say he 
has a good character. If someone is cross 
and bad, we say he has a bad character. 
So character is really just what we are — 
it is the life we live. 

We began this building when we were 
tiny babies, and we will keep building and 
building every day until we grow old and 
gray. Remember, the most important 
part is made when we are just boys and 
girls. That is the foundation part of our 
character. You are making that now. 

One morning as I came down the street 
I saw a ragged, poor old man coming 
toward me. He was muttering some bad 
words, and stumbling as he walked. His 
eyes were red, and his clothes ragged and 
dirty. Pretty soon he fell right down on 
the sidewalk and had to take hold of a 
post to help himself to his feet again. 

I could see that the poor old fellow was 
drunk. Have you ever seen a drunken 



'vj 



Little Builders 


25 


man? I wonder if you know what I 
thought about when I saw this man? He 
made me think of the crooked building 
which was one-sided and ready to fall 
down. You see, boys and girls, he had 
built a bad character. 

I must tell you about another old 
man I know. Every one who knows 
him calls him Uncle Mahlon. He is about 
eighty years old, and his snowy white hair 
and pleasant face make one love him. He 
used to come to our house often, and he 
was always thinking of how he could help 
some one. In fact, he seemed never to 
think of himself. Uncle Mahlon doesn’t 
smoke, he doesn’t get drunk, he doesn’t 
say any bad words; and he always makes 
me think of some of the good men we read 
of in the Bible. I don’t see him very often 
now, for he doesn’t live near, but I love 
him just the same. He makes me think of 
the straight, tall building, which has a 
good foundation. He has lived a good life, 
— he has built a good character. 

If some one should ask you which man 
you would rather be like, I am sure you 








26 


Little Builders 


would all answer, “Uncle Mahlon.” Of 
course, every boy and girl wants to build a 
beautiful character. No doubt the poor 
old drunken man wanted to have a good 
character, but somehow he put bad stones 
into his foundation. 

Do you remember what part of the 
building we said is always made first? 
Yes, it is the foundation. You are making 
the foundations of your buildings now. If 
you make good ones while you are boys 
and girls, you will have good buildings 
when you grow older. But if you make 
poor foundations now, your characters 
will be crooked and ugly when you are old. 

Do you think it would be easy for the 
poor old drunken man to make his build¬ 
ing straight now after he has been bad for 
so long? No, it certainly would not. And 
do you think it would be easy for dear old 
Uncle Mahlon to be a bad man, or for his 
character to become crooked and ugly and 
ready to tumble down? It is easy to form 
right habits and build good foundations 
when you are boys and girls, but it is oh 
so hard when you grow older! 



Little Builders 


27 


The best time to teach your little puppy 
to do tricks is while he is very young. If 
you had a crooked tree in your yard and 
wanted to make it fine and straight, 
you would have to straighten it while it 
was little, wouldn’t you? It would be 
easy then, but you could never straighten 
it after it had become a large tree. 

Now let us imagine that we are putting 
the stones into our foundations. We must 
be careful to get only the good stones and 
to throw out all bad ones. Let us think of 
some stones we want to put in, and we will 
write down the names here, so we shall re¬ 
member better: obedience, honesty, 
truthfulness, and temperance. Then we 
do not want to leave out love, helpful¬ 
ness, unselfishness, neatness, and pa¬ 
tience. And every boy and girl wants to 
have the stones of faithfulness and de¬ 
termination in the foundation. Perhaps 
you can think of some other stones you 
want to put in too. But be careful about 
the bad stones, for we don’t want our 
walls to tumble down, do we? 

The Bible tells a story about two men 









28 


Little Builders 


who built houses. For a foundation one 
chose a great, large, flat, rocky place. A 
terrible storm came, and winds blew, and 
the rain fell, but the house stood firm, for 
it was founded on a rock. The other man 
thought he would not go to all the trouble 
of building a good foundation, so he just 
built his house on the sand, and when this 
same storm came along, his house fell 
down, for it had no solid foundation,— it 
was built on the sand. 

I can just hear you boys and girls saying 
that you are going to be careful like the 
first man, and that you will be sure to put 
good foundations under your buildings. 

































CHAPTER III 


Good and Bad Stones 


W HILE we are talking about some of 
the good stones we want to put into 
our foundations, we might just as well talk 
about some of the bad ones we want to 
keep out of our buildings. Just think how 
terrible it would be if some of us did use 
bad stones and our buildings should be 
crooked and maybe fall over. In this 
chapter we will think about obedience, 
the good stone, and disobedience, the bad 
stone. You know what that word obedi¬ 
ence means, don’t you? When boys and 
girls talk about it they usually say 
“mind.” They say they mind papa and 
mama, while older folks use the word 
“obey.” 

Last night when I was reading my 
paper I saw something about a little boy 

(31) 




32 


Little Builders 


which made me feel sad, and I know you 
will feel the same way when I tell you 
about it. Our house is just two blocks 
from a deep, wide river, and in winter 
time it is covered with ice. Now you know 
boys and girls all like to skate and slide on 
the ice, and it is hard for them to wait till 
it gets cold and the ice is strong enough to 
hold them. 

This little boy wanted to go down to 
the river to play on the ice, but his mother 
told him it was not safe,— that he might 
break through and get drowned, and then 
she would not have any little boy. Our 
mothers usually know best, and if he had 
been careful and obedient he would not 
have gone till his mother told him he 
could. But like many other little boys 
and girls, he felt mother didn’t know how 
strong the ice was and that she might 
never know if he did go. One day she 
went to the store to buy some things, and 
left him at home alone. She hadn’t been 
gone long when some other boys came by 
and wanted him to go to the river with 
them. He thought this would be a good 




Little Builders 


33 


chance to go, and he forgot what his 
mother had told him, to be sure to stay 
right at home until she came back, for she 
would be gone only a few minutes. Do 
you think he really forgot? No, he didn’t 
forget, he just disobeyed. 

Soon the boys were having a fine time 
on the ice, but it didn’t last long, for this 
poor little fellow broke through and went 
down into the cold water. He kicked and 
cried and tried to get out, but again and 
again his hands slipped off the ice and he 
fell back into the water. The boys did not 
dare to go out to help him, for fear they 
too would fall in. He did get hold of the 
ice once and held on for some time and the 
boys tried to encourage him to hold on 
till they could run for help, but he had to 
let go, and went down into the icy water 
and was drowned. The last thing they 
heard him say was, “This will break 
mama’s heart, for she told me not to go 
on the ice.” Several days later they found 
his body. The poor little fellow lost his 
life because he did not obey. 

Another little boy told me that these 




34 


Little Builders 


boys wanted him to go down to the river 
with them that same evening, but his 
father and mother had told him not to go 
near the river because the ice was not safe, 
and he told them that he was going to 
mind his parents. Now he is glad he did, 
for he too might have been drowned. 

So you see one of these little boys used 
the good stone, obedience, while the other 
one used the bad stone, disobedience, and 
lost his life. In the next chapter we will 
talk some more about these stones. 




CHAPTER IV 


The Little Girl Who Wanted 
the Teakettle 


E VEN when we axe very little boys and 
girls, before we can talk plainly, we 
begin to want things, and sometimes we 
think we know better than papa or mama 
what is best for us. 

One time a little girl about two years 
old saw the pretty, bright teakettle on the 
stove, and the steam was pouring out of 
the top of it. Mama had filled it with 
water to heat for washing the dishes. The 
little girl was sitting in her high chair near 
the stove, and she thought she wanted 
that teakettle to play with. So she started 
to reach for it. Mama saw her, and said 
“No, no, baby must not touch. It is hot 
and will burn her.” 

The little girl did not like that one bit 

(35) 



36 Little Builders 


She thought mother should let her have 
what she wanted. She waited till mother 
went out of the room, and then she 
reached over and took hold of the handle. 
She pulled and pulled, for it was heavy. 
She could not lift it, but finally she got it 
over to the very edge of the stove. One 
more pull, and the kettle was off the stove, 
upside down, and a lot of hot, hot water 
spilled on her little legs. 

The poor little girl was badly burned, 
and she cried and cried. It took several 
weeks for her little legs to get well, but 
she learned that mother knew best, and 
that it is always wise to obey. She never 
wanted the teakettle any more after that. 

















































































































































Disobedient children are playing with fire and will surely be burned. 










CHAPTER V 


pm 

<"tZZZ> 


The Little Mouse That Didn’t 
Mind 

APA and Mama Mouse lived in the 
house of a rich man in a large city. 
They had gathered pieces of paper and 
cloth and made them a snug, warm nest 
for their home. It was down under the 
pantry, and the only way they could get 
up into the house was through a hole in 
the floor. They were happy in their little 
home, for it was always pleasant and 
warm, and they foiind plenty of good 
things to eat in the pantry. And one day 
they were made very, very happy, for 
there were five little baby mice in their 
nest. They were such tiny pink fellows! 
Their eyes did not open for several days, 
so they could not see a thing; but Papa 
and Mama Mouse cared for them, and 

(39) 




LB-3 


40 


Little Builders 




they grew very rapidly. In a short time 
they were large enough to run around. 

One morning Papa Mouse called all the 
family together, to have a little talk with 
them. This is what he said to them: 
“Papa and Mama must be away from 
home to hunt food for you, and we want 
you to stay right here at home. Don’t 
ever go through the hole up into the 
house, for the people have set traps to 
catch you, and there is a big cat up there 
too, which will eat you if you ever go 
close enough for him to get his paws on 
you. So you stay right at home and be 
good children.” They all listened to what 
Papa Mouse said, but they could not 
understand why they should stay at home 
all the time when Papa and Mama could 
go upstairs. 

One dark night when Papa and Mama 
Mouse were both away, one little fellow 
thought he would go up into the house and 
look around, He had never been away 
from home in all his life, and he said to 
himself, “I know Papa and Mama both 
say I must not go, but I am big enough to 



Little Builders 


4i 


take care of myself. I won’t get caught in 
the trap, and I’ll keep my eyes open for 
the old cat.” So up through the hole he 
went. 

When Papa and Mama Mouse came 
home, one of the children was gone, and 
they sat up and waited and waited for 
him to come back, but he never came. 
They always felt that he must have been 
eaten by the cat, and it made them feel 
very sad to think that one of their very 
own little mice had been killed because 
he didn’t mind. 

Boys and girls almost always get into 
trouble when they don’t mind. Sometimes 
they think their papas and mamas don’t 
love them, and that they don’t want them 
to have a good time when they tell them 
not to do some things. But it is because 
they do love you, boys and girls, and they 
want you to make good straight, tall 
buildings, so they try to help you keep out 
the bad stones. 

When you are tempted to disobey, 
think of the poor little fellow who fell 
through the ice, and of the little mouse 




42 


Little Builders 


who knew better than his parents. You 
might not lose your life when you disobey, 
but when you do it once, it is easier the 
next time. If you keep on disobeying your 
fathers and mothers, when you get older 
you will be likely to disobey the laws of 
the land. All this makes it easier to dis¬ 
obey God's laws too, and He cannot take 
people to heaven who keep on disobeying 
His laws. So let us watch closely for the 
disobedience stones and throw them all 
away, so they will not get into our founda¬ 
tions. 











I 










< 43 > 






( 44 ) 





















CHAPTER VI 


Adam and Eve Use Some 
Bad Stones 

B EFORE we talk about any of the 
other stones, I want to tell you about 
a man and a woman who used some dis¬ 
obedience stones in their buildings, and 
how sorry they were. They were the very 
first man and woman who ever lived on 
this earth. You know who they were, 
don’t you? When the Lord put Adam and 
Eve in the garden of Eden He gave them 
the most beautiful place in the whole 
world. There were many lovely flowers# 
fruit trees, and nut trees, and everything 
that their hearts could wish for. 

But He told them that there was one 
tree in the middle of the garden that they 
should never touch nor eat the fruit of, for 
they would surely die if they did. They 

(45) 








46 Little Builders 

lived very well for a while, but one day 
Eve stood looking at the fruit of this tree, 
and she began to wish she might just 
taste it. Then she heard a voice near her, 
— it was the voice of Satan. He told her 
that the fruit of this tree was the best fruit 
in the whole garden, and it would not hurt 
her one bit to eat it. He made her think 
God had told a lie and that He did not 
love them or He would allow them to eat 
the fruit. And Eve thought, “Well that 
does look very good, and I don’t believe it 
will hurt me. I think I’ll take some just 
this once anyway.” So she disobeyed God 
and ate of the fruit. Then she called Adam 
and told him how good it was, and he also 
ate of it. Then Satan was happy, for Adam 
and Eve had sinned. After they had eaten 
of the fruit, they knew they had done 
wrong, and they felt as we do when we 
know we have done something we should¬ 
n’t. They were sorry of course, but it was 
too late then to make their mistake right. 
God often came into the garden to talk 
with Adam and Eve, but the next time He 
came they were hiding. You know how 



Little Builders 


47 


we feel when we have done something that 
papa and mama do not want us to do. We 
just feel we don’t want to see any one. 

Then God told them that they would 
have to be driven from the garden, their 
beautiful home. If they had been obedi¬ 
ent, they could have lived in this lovely 
place forever and there would never have 
been any sickness, nor death. Now they 
had to be driven out, and a little later, 
would have to die and be buried in the 
ground. If they had not made this mis¬ 
take we might have lived in that garden 
too, and there would not be any sin nor 
suffering nor death. We would not have 
toothache nor earache, nor ever be sick; 
there wouldn’t be any weeds in our gar¬ 
dens, and this would be a much better 
world. 

Adam and Eve made bad foundations, 
and it is too late now to make the old 
world good. But we are glad that some 
day Jesus is coming back to this world 
again and will clean it up and make it just 
like the garden of Eden was then. And 
He is going to put in it all the boys and 





48 


Little Builders 


girls and men and women who have'been 
obedient and who have built good char¬ 
acters. 











& 

e 


CHAPTER VII 

How Tommy Overcame 
Temptation 

O NCE there was a little boy named 
Tommy who had to pass a fruit store 
every day on his way home from school. 
Day after day he had gone by this store, 
and many times he had stopped to look 
into the windows at the fine rosy apples, 
the oranges, and the bananas. There were 
grapes too, and figs, and dates, and many 
good things that Tommy did not remem¬ 
ber ever tasting, for his father and mother 
were poor and could not buy these things 
for him. They had to work very hard to 
get enough money to buy clothes for 
Tommy and his little brothers and sisters, 
and sometimes they had only bread and 
potatoes to eat. But they were good 
people, and they had always taught their 

(49) 



Little Builders 



50 

children to be honest,— never to take 
anything which did not belong to them. 

One day as Tommy passed the store, he 
saw a barrel of rosy red apples out on the 
sidewalk, right where he could reach one 
if he wanted to. My, how good they 
looked, and how his little mouth watered! 
He wanted one so much, but still he re¬ 
membered what he had been taught about 
taking things. He stopped just to look at 
the apples, and then something seemed to 
say to him, “Why don’t you take one, 
Tommy; no one is looking, and your papa 
and mama will never know. They are so 
good and sweet. Go ahead, take one.” 

Another voice seemed to tell him it 
would not be right. But the first voice 
told him again that he had better take 
one while he had a good chance. “It 
wouldn’t be so bad to take just one apple, 
Tommy, and no one will ever know. It 
will taste so good.” Before the good voice 
had time to say any more to him, his little 
hand slipped down into the barrel, pulled 
out a big red apple, and down the street 
he went. As he walked along he felt mean, 




Little Builders 


5i 


and his throat filled up till he felt he never 
could swallow anything. And then the 
good voice spoke to him again. It told 
him that he had always been a good boy 
and had never taken anything, and that 
he should take the apple right back. So 
Tommy decided that he would not be a 
thief, and back to the barrel he went. He 
walked right up to it, dropped the apple 
in, and then ran down the street as fast as 
his little legs could carry him. He wanted 
to get away from the temptation just as 
quickly as he possibly could. Tommy felt 
much better then, and when he reached 
home, he told his mama all about the trial 
he had had. 

She did not scold him, oh no! She told 
him she was so glad that he had been an 
honest boy, and that she would give him 
some pennies so he could buy one of those 
apples as he went back to school. Tommy 
did buy a big red apple, and how he en¬ 
joyed it! He felt good to think that he had 
overcome the temptation to steal. He 
had put an honesty stone into his foun¬ 
dation. After that Tommy never had 




52 


Little Builders 


much trouble, even though he passed that 
barrel every day for a long time. When¬ 
ever temptation came to him, he would 
run away from it just as quickly as he 
could. 




CHAPTER VIII 


Honest Abe 

I SUPPOSE you boys and girls already 
know who Honest Abe is, for almost 
all of us have heard about Abraham 
Lincoln. We all love him, for he was a 
good man, and he built a building of which 
all the world is proud. 

When Abraham was a little boy he lived 
in the woods in a tiny log cabin with his 
father and mother, far from other boys 
and girls. That little log cabin did not 
have any electric lights,— not even good 
windows, and they had very little furni¬ 
ture. What they did have was made from 
rough boards which had been sawed from 
the trees near the house. He did not have 
any good paper and pencils, nor could he 
go to school very long. But he learned to 
read, and he read every book he could 

(53) 






Little Builders 



54 

find. At nights he would lie by the fire¬ 
place and read and figure. He used the 
back of the wooden shovel to figure on, 
and a piece of charcoal for a pencil. How 
would you like to do that? 

The story I wanted to tell you about 
Abraham Lincoln will explain why people 
called him Honest Abe. He found work in 
a country store when he grew older, and 
there he worked hard for his employer. 
He was not paid very much money for his 
work, but he worked hard just the same. 
And I don’t imagine he ever cheated any 
one who came there to buy things. I can 
almost see him as he weighed out the 
sugar, salt, flour, and other groceries. He 
must have been careful to give every one 
just the right amount. 

He took care of the money in this store, 
and one evening when he counted it, he 
found he had a few cents more than he 
should have. He thought and thought 
where it could have come from, till finally 
he decided he must have made a mistake 
and given a poor old woman the wrong 
change. The more he thought of it the 




































































































' 



























































Little Builders 


57 


more certain he was that he had not given 
her enough change. That made Abraham 
feel bad, and as soon as he could close the 
store, what do you suppose he did? 

Some boy would have said, “Well, the 
old woman will never know it, and I can 
just put this money in my pocket. I can 
spend it for something I want myself.” 
But that would be stealing, wouldn’t it? 
That would be putting a bad stone into his 
building. Abraham did not think that 
way at all. It was a long walk to the home 
of this elderly woman, but he put on his 
coat and wrapped up warmly, and started 
out through the snow and cold to find her. 
When he explained it to her, sure enough 
he was right, and the money did belong to 
her. She thanked him for all the trouble, 
and I imagine she told him he would be a 
great man some day if he were always as 
honest with every one. 

Lincoln felt much better as he walked 
back to the store. The man he worked for 
soon found out about this, and other 
people heard of it too, so that is how they 
came to call him “Honest Abe.” And I 


& 



LB-4 



58 Little Build ers 


don’t imagine the man he worked for ever 
worried about Abraham taking any of the 
money, do you? 

And I wonder if people didn’t want 
Abraham to wait on them when they went 
to that store? They knew he would be 
honest with them, and they had learned 
to love him. 

Abraham Lincoln put many honesty 
stones into his building, and, although he 
is dead now, he is known by every boy and 
girl, and his memory will live on as long 
as this old world stands. If you are ever 
tempted to be dishonest, just think of 
Honest Abe. 





CHAPTER IX 


George and the Colt 

I AM thinking now about a boy whom 
most of you know or at least have 
heard about. He put a great many truth¬ 
fulness stones into his foundation, and he 
grew to be a great man with a strong char¬ 
acter. He was called the “Father of His 
Country.” Many times we have heard 
him spoken of as the “boy who never told 
a lie.” 

Almost every boy and girl has heard the 
story of how he chopped down a cherry 
tree with a new hatchet that his father 
had bought for him. When his father 
came home and found the tree cut down 
he thought at once of George’s new 
hatchet and he went to George and asked 
him if he knew anything about how the 
tree was cut down. George didn’t try to 

(59) 


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Little Builders 


blame it onto someone else, but said, 
“Yes, father, I did it with my little 
hatchet." Your father or mother will be 
glad to tell you that little story if you 
haven’t heard it. And you have guessed by 
now that this boy was George Washington. 

But there is another story told about 
George that happened when he was older 
— maybe about twelve years old. One 
morning he and his boy playmates were 
out in the pasture where they kept the 
horses. His mother had one beautiful 
colt that she liked better than any of the 
other horses. It was about two years old, 
and black and shiny. It had never been 
ridden before, and the boys thought it 
would be great fun to see George try to 
ride the colt. They finally persuaded him 
to try it. After trying for a long time he 
got on the colt’s back, and then the battle 
began. No one had ever been on the colt’s 
back before and it could not understand 
what this meant, so it tried to throw 
George off. It ran, and it jumped, and it 
tried every way to throw him off; but 
George was a good rider, and he stuck 



Little Builders 


6i 


tight to the colt. Finally it made a jump 
into the air, and fell to the ground dead. 
It had broken a blood vessel. 

Just try to think how George must have 
felt. It was his mother's favorite colt and 
he knew how she would feel. Some boys 
might have never told their mother about 
it, and she would not have known how 
the colt was killed. But George was 
truthful. He went right to the house and 
told his mother all about it, and how sorry 
he was. Do you suppose his mother gave 
him a whipping? No, she did not. She 
felt bad to think that her beautiful colt 
was dead, but she told George she was 
proud to think that he would come and 
tell her the truth about it. As far as we 
know George was always truthful, and he 
grew to be a great man. He was first 
president of the United States, and there 
are many, many people to-day who love 
the name of George Washington. Had he 
been untruthful through his life, we might 
never have heard of him. 

I know a little girl who fell in a mud 




62 


Little Builders 



puddle out in front of her home, and made 
her clothes all wet and muddy. She went 
into the house and told her mother that a 
boy named Willie had pushed her into the 
water. And her mother always thought 
Willie Bright was a bad boy for doing such 
a naughty thing. But poor Willie had 
never done anything to her at all. 

The little girl told a story, for she feared 
her mother would scold her. But she 
never did feel right about it. It bothered 
her for several days, and even yet she 
thinks about it. 

A little girl was at my house not long 
ago to spend the evening. Before she 
came her mother had told her to be careful 
about her new dress. She said she would, 
but after a while she forgot about her 
promise. Some boys and girls were having 
a great time on a toboggan slide just back 
of the house, and she went out to slide 
with them. She went down only a few 
times when she noticed that she had 
caught her pretty red dress on the slide 
and torn a big hole in it. Then she re¬ 
membered what her mother had told her, 



Little Builders 63 


and of her promise that she would be 
careful. 

Right away she began to wonder what 
her mother would say, and just what she 
should tell her. She didn’t want to stay 
any longer, but wanted to go right home 
and tell her mama about it. But she went 
to the telephone and called her mother up 
and told her that she had disobeyed and 
had torn a hole in her new dress. Of 
course her mother felt sorry about it, but 
she was glad that her little girl would tell 
the truth. That shows too that it pays to 
obey as well as to tell the truth, doesn’t it? 

A story my father used to tell me has 
always helped me to be truthful. It was 
about a boy who was watching some sheep 
to keep the wolves away. He had to 
watch them carefully from early in the 
morning till late at night, and if any 
wolves came he had to drive them away, 
or if he could not do it, get some one to 
help him. There were some men working 
in the woods near by cutting down trees. 
One day the boy thought it would be 
great fun to fool the men, so he called 



64 Little: Builders 




out as loudly as he could, “Wolf! Wolf!” 

The woodsmen heard him, and thought 
the wolves were eating the sheep, so they 
quit their work, took their axes, and ran 
as rapidly as they could. When they got 
to the boy and the sheep, they found the 
boy laughing as hard as he could, and the 
sheep were quietly eating grass. The boy 
was only playing a joke on them, and he 
thought it was great sport. 

A few days after that some wolves did 
really come, and he called and called for 
help, but the men would not go, for they 
thought he was not telling the truth, but 
only playing another trick on them. The 
poor boy did not know what to do. He 
tried to drive the wolves away, but there 
were too many for him. They carried away 
some of the little lambs and ate them. The 
boy learned a lesson that he never forgot. 

It is just as bad to act a lie as it is to 
tell one. You know what that means, 
don’t you? One day a little girl was wash¬ 
ing the dishes for mama, and she broke 
one of the pretty cups right in two in the 
middle. She thought mama might scold, 



Little Builders 65 


so she just put the two pieces together and 
set them on the shelf. It looked as if it 
had never been broken. 

When mama went to set the table for 
breakfast the next morning she picked up 
the cup and it fell in two again. The little 
girl hadn't said a word, so she had not 
spoken an untruth; but she had acted a 
lie by trying to make the cup look like a 
good one and not telling mama about it. 

Don’t ever act an untruth. It may seem 
hard sometimes to tell the truth, but you 
will feel better inside, and mama and papa 
and everyone will love you more, and you 
will be putting in some stones which will 
make a good foundation for your building 
which we call “Character.” 




( 66 ) 



Little Builders 

We all are little builders, 

We’re building here to-day; 

We’re building living temples, 

Not those of wood and clay; 

Our stones are made of loving deeds 
Our colors, too, are fast; 

Jesus our Master Builder is, 

Such work will surely last. 

We all are “ willing workers,” 

We’ll build a wall to-day; 

We’ll build it high, we’ll build it strong, 
And while we work we’ll pray; 

We’re not afraid of any foe, 

God helps us to stand fast, 

The willing hands and loving hearts 
Are sure to win at last. 

Then rap, rap, rap, and tap, tap, tap, 
We’re building here to-day, 

With stones of Hope and Truth and Love, 
All laid in God’s right way, 

Then rap, rap, rap, and tap, tap, tap, 
We’re building here to-day; 

With evil foes on ev’ry hand, 

Then work and watch and pray. 

—Margaret C. Brown. 

(67) 



( 68 ) 









CHAPTER X 


The Faithful Old Blacksmith 


T HERE are some boys and girls, and 
some men and women, in this world 
who can never be depended upon. When 
they say they will do something we are 
never quite sure they will keep their 
promise. If they are given something to 
do, people always feel they must watch 
them to see that it is done well. They are 
unfaithful. If we are unfaithful in little 
things, we will be unfaithful in big things. 
And the boy or girl or the man or woman 
who is unfaithful, who cannot be de¬ 
pended upon, will not build a good char¬ 
acter. They will not make a success in life. 

One morning a little boy’s father told 
him to be sure to feed the horses some 
corn, and water them at noon. Then the 
father went away to stay all day. The 

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70 


Little Builders 


little boy got up and washed and ate a 
good, big breakfast, then went out to 
play. He was so busy having a good time 
himself that he forgot all about the poor 
horses. When father asked him at night, 
he had to tell his father that he hadn’t 
taken care of the horses,— they had not 
had a thing to eat or drink. 

The father said, “Now, George, what 
do you think I ought to do to you as 
punishment, and to help you remember 
next time?” George hung his head and 
didn’t know what to say, for he really did 
feel very sorry about it. He knew he had 
done wrong. His father told him he would 
have to go to bed without any supper, so 
he would know how the poor animals felt 
when they were hungry. So George didn’t 
have any supper, and he was very hungry, 
for he had played hard all day. But he 
learned a lesson, and his father could trust 
him after that. 

Sometimes we promise to meet some 
one in a certain place at a certain hour. 
We hurry to get ready, so as to be there on 
time. But although he had promised faith- 





Little Builders 


7i 


fully he’d be there, we get there and no 
one is to be seen. Some times he is a half 
hour or an hour late. He didn’t keep his 
promise. 

A few weeks ago there was a lady absent 
from our Sabbath school. She had been so 
faithful in coming that the superintendent 
said, “ I see Sister Blank is not here this 
morning. She must be sick, for she has 
been here every Sabbath and on time for 
many months.” So some people went 
around to see her that afternoon, and sure 
enough she was sick. If she had not been 
sick she surely would have been there. 
She was faithful. 

But we were going to talk about the 
Faithful Old Blacksmith. I read this 
story not long ago, and I know you boys 
and girls will enjoy it. This faithful old 
man lived in a small town in the West. 
Every one in the town knew him, and they 
knew that any work he did for them would 
be done as well as he knew how to do it. 

He was making an iron chain one day 
when another man called in to get some 
work done. He was working very hard on 







72 


Little Builders 



the chain and was particular that every 
link was made just right. The man 
noticed how particular he was about his 
work, and asked, '‘Why are you so par¬ 
ticular in your work when it is just a 
rough iron chain you are making?” And 
the good old blacksmith said, “ If I make 
just one bad link in the chain, the whole 
chain will be bad.” And he hammered 
away, day after day, always careful to see 
that everything he did was done the very 
best he could do it. 

This blacksmith had a son, and he knew 
how particular his father was and how 
well he did his work. One time the son 
was on a large ship crossing the ocean 
when a terrible storm arose and they 
feared the ship would be lost. The captain 
told the sailors to let down the great iron 
anchor to see if it might catch on the 
bottom of the ocean and hold the ship till 
the storm was past. The anchor was 
fastened to the boat by a great iron chain. 
The sailors threw it over, and sure enough 
it touched the bottom of the sea, and the 
anchor caught hold. But the wind was so 












The chain held because it was honestly made. 


Little Builders 


75 


strong and the sea so rough that the great 
chain was broken as though it had been a 
piece of cord. 

“ Throw out another anchor,” the cap¬ 
tain shouted, and the sailors hurried to let 
down another one, and again the chain 
broke as soon as the anchor hit the bottom 
of the ocean. There was just one anchor 
left, and they began to let it down into the 
water. As the blacksmith’s son watched 
the chain being unwound he noticed some¬ 
thing which looked familiar to him. Step¬ 
ping closer, there on the link he saw his 
father’s initials. That chain had been 
made in his father’s little blacksmith shop 
back home, and it made his heart rejoice, 
for he felt sure it would stand the strain of 
the storm. 

So he hurried to the captain and told 
him that the chain would hold this time, 
and the captain wondered why he knew. 
The boy was glad to explain that his 
father had made it, and anything his 
father made was as good as could be 
made, and would stand any test. And 
sure enough the chain withstood the strain 

5 








76 Little) Builders 


of the storm, and the ship was saved. 
What if the old blacksmith had not been 
faithful? Many lives might have been 
lost. And what if we are not faithful in 
our work and in everything we do? 




CHAPTER XI 

A Little Boy Who Didn’t Know 
His Name. 

P ERHAPS you boys and girls have 
heard about Booker T. Washington, 
the colored boy who was bom in slavery 
times down in the South. He was very 
poor and did not even know his last name 
when he started to school. They called 
him Booker, and that was the only name 
he knew. But when he went to school the 
first morning the teacher asked for the 
names of all the boys and girls, and they 
all had two names and some had three. 
He didn’t know what to say for he had 
only one name. But there was one man 
he had heard much about, so he thought 
he would use that name. That man he 
knew about was George Washington. So 
when the teacher said, “What is your 

(77) 


78 Little Builders 



name, little man?” he answered, “Booker 
Washington/* 

Booker wanted to learn to read and 
write. He had to work in a salt mine with 
his father before and after school. One 
day in the mine he heard some men telling 
of a school somewhere many miles away 
where boys and girls might go to school 
and work to pay for their board and room 
and the cost of their schooling. He longed 
to go. And he wanted to go so badly 
that he was willing to walk many miles to 
reach this school, sleeping under the side¬ 
walk for several nights when he had no 
other place to sleep. 

But when he finally did reach the school 
he had very little money in his pocket. He 
told the principal he didn’t have much 
money, but that he wanted to get an edu¬ 
cation and that he was willing to work 
hard to pay for it. One of the ladies in the 
school was asked to give Booker an exami¬ 
nation to see if he was a faithful boy and 
worth giving an education. I suppose 
Booker thought they would bring him a 
long list of hard questions to answer, but 



Little Builders 


79 


when the lady came, what do you suppose 
she had? She had a broom, a dust cloth, 
and a dust pan, and she told Booker his 
examination would be to sweep and dust 
the room which she would show him. That 
was a strange way to give an examination, 
wasn’t it? 

I have seen some boys and girls, too, 
who would have swept the middle of the 
room and then dusted it in a hurry. But 
this boy swept every corner and under 
every desk. Then he swept it all over 
again, and then again, and for fear he 
might not pass he swept it the fourth 
time. Then he dusted it carefully. After 
a long while he told the lady he was all 
through and she came in to see if he had 
done his work well. The first thing she did 
was to take a white handkerchief and wipe 
the sill up above the door and the window 
where some boys and girls would never 
think of dusting. She looked under the 
seats and in the corners, but she didn’t 
find one particle of dirt, for he had done 
his work well. 

He passed the examination, for he was 






8o 


Little Builders 




faithful in little things, so they allowed 
him to go to school. He became a great 
man, and was always faithful. When he 
grew older he founded a school for other 
boys and girls where they could work to 
pay for their schooling. He did more for 
his people than any other colored man 
that ever lived. They all love him and 
love to speak his name. What if he hadn’t 
dusted and swept well that morning when 
he had his examination? We might never 
have heard of him. 

When mama asks you to wash the 
dishes, do you hurry through just as 
quickly as you can, or do you wash them 
the very best you know how? When you 
sweep, do you sweep in the comers too? 
When you promise to do something, are 
you always faithful in keeping your 
promise? 













The Building of the Nest 

They’ll come again to the apple tree — 
Robin and all the rest — 

When the orchard branches are fair to see, 
In the snow of the blossoms dressed; 
And the prettiest thing in the world will be 
The building of the nest. 

Weaving it well, so round and trim, 
Hollowing it with care,— 

Nothing too far away for him, 

Nothing for her too fair,— 

Hanging it safe on the topmost limb, 

Their castle in the air. 

Ah! mother bird, you’ll have weary days 
When the eggs are under your breast, 
And shadow may darken the dancing rays 
When the wee ones leave the nest; 

But they’ll find their wings in a glad amaze, 
And God will see to the rest. 

So come to the trees with all your train 
When the apple blossoms blow; [rain, 
Through the April shimmer of sun and 
Go flying to and fro; 

And sing to our hearts as we watch again 
Your fairy building grow. 

— Margaret Sangster. 


(Si) 



(82) 








































































CHAPTER XII 

The Little Helper Engine 

O NE time I had to go on a long 
journey out through the mountains, 
so I packed my grips and went down to 
the station to wait for my train. I put 
my grips on a seat and went out on the 
platform to wait till the train was ready to 
go. I walked down by the great engine. 
My, but it was a big one! Even the 
wheels on it were taller than my head. 
I thought surely it would be able to pull 
the long train of cars without any trouble. 

Pretty soon the conductor called out, 
“All aboard!” and everyone climbed on, 
and the train pulled away. Soon we were 
speeding out through the country. After 
traveling all day and all night we came to 
the foot of the mountains, and began to go 
up hill. It wasn’t very steep, but it made 

(S3) 


84 Little Builders 


the old engine puff and puff. Finally we 
came to the bottom of a very steep place 
and it stopped. As I looked out of the 
window I saw a small engine standing on 
the sidetrack. 

It seemed small by the side of the 
big engine that was pulling our train. 
They had changed engines several times 
during our journey, but each time they 
put on a big engine. But this little engine 
backed up and fastened onto the back of 
our train, and what do you think? Why, 
it began to push, and the big engine began 
to pull, and away we went up and up the 
steep hill and soon were at the top of the 
mountain range. But if that little engine 
hadn’t helped, we could not have climbed 
that steep grade. 

Do you know what that little engine 
made me think about? It made me think 
of little boys and girls who are helping the 
bigger and older folks over the hard places 
in their road day by day. Even though 
you may be only little folks, there are so 
many ways you can help the older people 
around you. You are little helpers and that 





Little Builders 85 


engine made me think of you. It was so 
small that it didn’t look as though it 
could do much, yet it helped push the 
long train of cars up the mountain side. 
Sometimes you may think you are too 
small to do much, but you can help in 
many ways. 

Now, you are thinking of what you can 
do to help papa and mama, and maybe 
other big people too. I know one little 
boy who always runs to the store for his 
mama when she wants anything, and he is 
always willing to go too, and this is such a 
help to his mother. I heard one mother 
tell not long ago of how her little boy kept 
her water bucket filled. She said, “He 
can’t carry a large pail of water, for it is 
too heavy, but he takes a tiny pail and 
carries the water and pours it into the 
large one till it is full.” I know another 
little boy who carries up all the coal for his 
mama. He can’t carry the coal bucket 
full, so he brings it half full each time. 
Some little girls help to wash the dishes 
and to care for their little brothers and 
sisters, and that is such a help. 



86 


Little Builders 




But I am sorry to tell you that I have 
known boys and girls who never wanted to 
do anything. When these boys and girls 
grow older they will not know how to 
work. When the girls grow up and have 
homes of their own, they won’t know how 
to cook or to do useful things, if they do 
not learn to work while they are small. 

One day not long ago I saw a poor old 
lady with a lot of bundles going along the 
street. A little boy with a wagon asked 
her if he could help her, and it made a 
smile come over her wrinkled face, it was 
such a lift! And it made the little boy feel 
good to think he had helped some one. 

Not long ago I heard about some boys 
who wanted to have some real fun on 
Hallowe’en. There was a poor old lady in 
the neighborhood who had no wood to 
burn. She was too old to work, so could 
not earn money to buy any. These boys 
went to all the neighbors and asked them 
to give money to help buy wood for this 
poor old lady. When they had collected 
enough money, they went to the woodman 
and asked him to send the wood around 



Little Builders 87 


after dark. Then they had someone ask 
Aunt Beth out to supper, so the man 
could deliver the wood and she wouldn't 
know anything about it. As soon as the 
wood came the boys all went over and 
carried it into the shed and piled it up 
straight. My, but wasn't she surprised 
the next morning when she saw all that 
wood! And weren’t those boys happy! 

There are so many ways in which boys 
and girls can be little engines to help other 
people over the hard places in life. I can't 
tell you all the ways you dan help, but I 
hope you will stop right now and think of 
some things you can do to help others. 
This will be a good stone to put into your 
foundations, and it will make the building 
much stronger. And not only that but it 
will make others happy, and they will love 
you more. Let’s think every day from 
now on how we can help some one. 











CHAPTER XIII 


About a Flashlight 
HIS is a good time to talk about the 



JL cheerfulness stone. Many times 
when boys and girls are asked to do some¬ 
thing to help someone, they begin to pout 
and are unhappy, and the corners of their 
mouths turndown. Johnny may be just 
as happy as can be, but when mama says, 
“ Johnny, will you get me a bucket of 
coal?” down go the corners of his mouth, 
and how ugly he looks! 

We all like to see boys and girls with the 
comers of their mouths turned up. If you 
think you look nice when the corners of 
your mouth turn down, just look in the 
glass the next time and see. 

Boys and girls make me think of a 
flashlight. You know what a flashlight is 
for, don’t you? “ To make light,” you say. 



90 


Little) Builders 



And even though the light may be small 
it is a great help in the dark. 

Now let us suppose we have a bright 
shiny new flashlight. It looks fine on the 
outside. But when we push the button, it 
doesn’t give one bit of light. A flashlight 
of that kind wouldn’t be much good, 
would it? What is the trouble? It looks 
just like any other flashlight. Let’s push 
the button again. So we push the button 
again, and no light. Then we begin to 
examine it. We look at the little electric 
bulb, and it is all right. There must be 
something wrong inside. Can you guess 
what the trouble is? There must be some¬ 
thing wrong with the battery. So we get 
a new battery and put inside, then push 
the button, and there is plenty of light. 

Sometimes we look at a little boy,— he 
has on a new suit, his tie is tied neatly 
and straight, his shoes are shined, his hair 
is combed, his face is clean, He looks just 
fine on the outside. And we think, “ Well, 
there is a fine boy.” Then we press the 
button: “Johnny, will you take care of 
baby for a few minutes?” But we don’t 




























































































































































































































































Eugene J. Hall. 

Feeding a hungry calf is enough to make anybody frown who 
hasn't a good battery ol smiles all stored up inside. 


Little Builders 


93 


get any light at all. The corners of his 
mouth go down and there is a dark cloud 
all over his face. What is the trouble with 
the little boy flashlight? Something must 
be wrong on the inside. Yes, his shine 
batteries are all worn out,— he needs a 
new battery. 

Aren’t you glad it doesn’t cost money to 
get new batteries for boys and girls? 
When you feel your shine batteries are 
not working right, just think that you 
have been placed here in this world to 
shine, to help others and to be cheerful 
about it. Then turn the corners of your 
mouth up, and ask Jesus to help you 
shine with all your might. Then you will 
brighten the little corner where you live 
and be a help in this great big world. 
Don’t leave the cheerfulness stone out of 
your foundations. 



6 




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CHAPTER XIV 


The House With the Golden 
Windows 

HE story is told of a boy who lived 



X in a small cottage on the top of a 
hill. He had not many things to play with, 
and must work hard every day. His home 
was very poor, and sometimes he was un¬ 
happy and felt he would like to have a 
better home and some of the things he had 
seen other boys have. Altogether he 
thought he had a pretty hard time. 

One evening when his day’s work was 
done he was sitting on the steps thinking 
about what a hard time he had. The sun 
was setting behind the western hills and 
the sky was a beautiful color. As he 
looked down into the valley below he saw 
a beautiful sight. It was a hou; 
windows of gold. He thought of 



96 Little Builders 


had to live in a plain little house, and of 
how happy the boy must be who lived in 
this house with the golden windows. 
Surely he must have everything to make 
him happy! 

He decided he would take a trip down 
into the valley and at least look at the 
house and in through those windows of 
gold. So early the next morning he started 
on the journey. It was a long way, and he 
had to walk. But he rested now and then 
along the way. It was almost sunset when 
he reached the place, and he was very 
tired. But he felt he would be well paid, 
— he might even get to know the boy who 
lived in this wonderful house. 

But when he came closer he found it 
was only an old house that was no longer 
used! It had been used for a stable, but 
now there were not even horses in it. The 
windows were dingy and dirty. Surely 
this must be the wrong place. Where 
were the windows of gold? But it was the 
very house toward which he had started. 
The windows had been made to look like 
gold by the rays of the setting sun. You 



Little Builders 


97 


have seen windows which looked just such 
a beautiful color in the evening sunset, 
haven’t you? How discouraged and dis¬ 
appointed the boy was! Tired and foot¬ 
sore, he lay down to rest. It was morning 
when he awoke, and he looked up at his 
own little home on the hill, and what do 
you suppose he saw? The windows of his 
own home had become very beautiful 
also; they too were of gold as the morning 
sunlight shone upon them. 

The boy had learned a lesson. After 
all, his own home was the best. The place 
which had looked so wonderful from a dis¬ 
tance did not compare with his own little 
home on the hill. So he went back a 
different boy, and never again was he un- 
happy because of his poor home. 

One morning when I went to work I met 
a little boy coming down the sidewalk 
with just one roller skate. He had it on 
his right foot, and a broad smile on his 
face. He seemed to be having a jolly time 
scooting along on that one roller skate. 
Many boys and girls would have been 
cross because they had only one skate, but 



98 Little Builders 

he didn’t let it spoil his good time. 

I have known some boys and girls who 
had so many playthings they hardly knew 
which one to play with first, and yet they 
were unhappy. I know one little boy who 
has always had lots of toys and yet he is 
forever wishing he had something to play 
with, and that he could do like some other 
boy. Isn’t that strange? 

I wonder if we can’t learn a lesson from 
these boys and girls we have talked about 
in this chapter,— never to be unhappy 
because we cannot have everything we 
would like. So let’s be happy anyway. 




“We are building ev’ry day; 

If we do not watch and pray, 

Best of tools are all in vain, 

Golden Rule, and line, and plane. 
Measure by love each stone and brick, 
Mixing the silver mortar quick; 

Careful builders we must be, 

All the world our house can see.” 


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CHAPTER XV 

The New Clothes Rack 

G IRLS usually like to keep clean and 
to dress well, but sometimes boys 
are not so particular. I have seen boys go 
to school and even to church without 
combing their hair. And some would 
never wash their faces if mother did not 
just make them do it. Isn’t it strange how 
boys hate to have their necks and ears 
washed? It seems to make a boy feel ugly 
and sometimes he even cries and whines. 

Did you ever know boys or girls who 
would take off their clothes and leave 
them lying in a pile right on the floor? 
Some boys do that very thing, but others 
always hang their clothes up where they 
belong. Have you ever heard a boy say 
to his mother, “Mother, where is my 
cap? I can’t find it anywhere.” Some- 

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102 


Little Builders 




times mother says, “ I don’t know, son, I 
didn’t wear your cap.” But usually 
mothers help us hunt for things, don’t 
they? 

One little fellow about six years old 
had the habit of leaving his hat here, and 
his mittens there,— scattering his clothes 
all over the house. His father and mother 
would scold him and tell him he would 
never grow to be a great and good man. 
But in this case the trouble was not all 
with the little boy. There were lots of 
hooks around that house, but they were 
all so high he couldn’t reach them. 

So his father made a place for the little 
boy to hang his clothes. He found a good 
piece of wood, and planed it off smooth. 
Then he screwed it onto the wall just high 
enough so the little boy could reach it. 
He bought some bright shiny hooks at the 
hardware store and fastened them into the 
wood, and when it was finished there were 
ten hooks all in a row. And would you 
believe it, that little boy never threw his 
clothes on the floor after that. He didn’t 
want anyone else to use those hooks 



Little Builders 


103 


either; they were his, and he always hung 
his clothes on them, and then he knew 
where to find them. Maybe your fathers 
will make you boys and girls a rack like 
that so you can always put your clothes 
in a certain place and never have to spend 
time looking for them. 

Once there was a boy who was not very 
careful about keeping his hands clean and 
his clothes tidy. He wanted to find work 
as an office boy, so he went to see a busi¬ 
ness man who wanted a boy. A business 
man is always particular that he gets a 
boy who is neat and tidy. So the first 
thing the man did was to ask the boy to 
write his name on a clean sheet of paper. 
The boy’s hands were soiled, and he made 
some ugly black marks on the clean white 
page. He hadn’t cleaned his finger nails, 
and the man noticed this also. And his 
hair had not been combed. What do you 
suppose the man told this boy? He said, 
“ I think I won’t be able to use you, son.” 
The boy wondered why. So the man told 
him just why he didn’t hire him, and the 
little boy went home feeling blue, but 






io4 Little Builders 


determined to be more careful after that. 
This may not seem like a very important 
stone, but if you do not put it in, some day 
you will be sorry. 




















CHAPTER XVI 

The Boy With the Yellow 
Fingers 

W HEN older folks talk about temper¬ 
ance they usually think of not 
drinking beer and whisky and getting 
drunk; but there are other things in that 
big word, which boys and girls might 
think about. We can be temperate in our 
play, by not playing too hard or too long. 
I heard of one little girl who jumped rope 
until it killed her. She was intemperate 
in her play. We can be temperate in our 
eating by not eating too much, even 
though it is good food. The Bible says we 
should be “temperate in all things.” 

But there is one thing we must be sure 
to think about, and that is the cigarette. 
You boys and girls all know what ciga- 

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io6 Little Builders 


rettes are, for almost every man smokes 
them now, and many women also. I hope 
your parents do not use them. It is a 
bad habit and will weaken the founda¬ 
tions of your buildings if you use them. 
Boys and girls who learn to smoke when 
they are young, do not often amount to 
anything worth while. They do not grow 
as other boys and girls do. They are 
nervous and impatient. Their minds do 
not work well, and sometimes they even 
lose their minds entirely. 

A lady, visiting a dog kennel in France 
where the man raised tiny dogs, wondered 
what kept the dogs small and said, “ Tell 
me why the dogs are so tiny and small; 
why do they never grow larger? ” He did 
not want to tell her his secret for fear she 
might raise some small dogs too, and then 
he would not get so much money for his. 
But he finally told her that he fed the 
puppies some of the poison called nicotine 
which comes from tobacco and the little 
fellows didn’t grow. Many of them died, 
but he got much more money for those 
that did live because they were so small. 



Little Builders 107 


Now tobacco does just the same thing for 
boys and girls, and no one likes to see 
dwarfed boys or girls. You wouldn’t want 
to be dwarfs, would you? Some of the 
large railroad companies and many busi¬ 
ness houses will not hire boys or girls 
that smoke, and we don’t blame them, 
do we? 

A little red-headed, twelve-year-old boy 
named Bert was looking for work in an 
office. He went to the manager and told 
him he wanted work. The manager looked 
Bert over, and saw that his fingers were 
all stained a yellowish brown color. “No, 
we can’t use you,” he said. And Bert an¬ 
swered, “I suppose it is because I have 
yellow hair.” “No indeed,” said the man, 
“ it is because you have yellow fingers.” 

Other boys will ask you to smoke, and 
they will call you “sissy” if you don’t, 
but do not let that bother you. Decide 
right now, before you turn this page, that 
you will never, never smoke. And it won’t 
hurt you, girls, to decide that too, for 
many girls smoke now. 

And when you grow older you may be 




io8 Little Builders 


tempted to drink beer and whisky or other 
strong drink. Some one will say, “Oh, 
come on, just take one drink. One glass 
won’t hurt you.” But don’t ever taste it. 
Many who have tasted it, just to keep 
from hurting someone’s feelings, have be¬ 
come drunkards. Every drunkard started 
by taking just one glass. He liked it and 
the next time he wanted two glasses, and 
before long he was getting drunk. And 
after a while he found he couldn’t let it 
alone and it ruined his life. If you ever 
smoke or drink, you will be putting stones 
in your buildings that will spoil your 
characters. 












Underwood Underwood. 


A gooa aog is a most unselfish playmate. 


CHAPTER XVII 

Two Selfish Dogs 

D ID you ever have a selfish playmate? 

If so, how did you like to play with 
him? Selfishness is a bad habit, and we 
must be careful that not one stone of it 
gets into our buildings. But we should use 
a great many of the unselfishness stones. 

In an old school reader there are two 
stories about selfish dogs. Maybe you 
have heard them. But you won’t mind 
hearing about them again. One was of a 
dog who was sleeping on some hay in a 
manger. He had no business there, for he 
was lying on the hay that the tired ox 
would want to eat when it came in from 
its work. When dinner time came the man 
brought the ox into the barn and turned 
it loose. It went right to its stall expecting 
to eat its dinner, for it was hungry and 

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112 


Little Builders 


tired. But the ugly dog barked and tried 
to bite its nose. The dog could not eat the 
hay, neither did he want the ox to have it. 
He just wanted to lie there and sleep, even 
though the ox had to go without any 
dinner. 

I know of little folks who have toys that 
they hardly ever play with, but when 
some other little boy or girl comes and 
wants to play with that toy, then they 
want it right away. Isn’t that strange? 

The other story in the old reader is 
about a dog that had been to town and 
found a fine big piece of meat. At least he 
thought it was good. Dogs always like 
meat, and they want to be left all alone 
while they eat it. After he found the meat 
he wanted to get home just as quickly as 
he could, for he didn’t want any other dog 
to see him. He was thinking all the time 
about what a good meal he would have all 
alone. On the way home he had to cross 
the river on a narrow bridge, and he 
looked down into the water and saw there 
another dog with a piece of meat. Of 
course, it wasn’t another dog at all, but 



Little Builders 


113 


just his own reflection in the clear water. 

But he was a selfish dog, and it really 
hurt him to think that the other dog had 
some meat like his. So he decided he 
would take the meat from the other dog 
and then he would have two pieces of 
meat for his dinner, even if the other dog 
didn’t have any. So he jumped right off 
the bridge at the dog he thought he saw. 
When he jumped he dropped his piece of 
meat, so he could get the piece the other 
dog had, and his meat fell into the water, 
and when he came up all dripping wet he 
couldn’t find it anywhere. He went home 
hungry, but a much wiser dog. 

Of course we all feel that we would not 
want to be so selfish as those two dogs. 
And next time you have something good 
you will want to divide with your little 
brothers or sisters, or your playmates, 
won’t you? When the apple plate is 
passed around, I wonder if any boy or 
girl will look for the biggest apple. 

No boy or girl wants to be selfish. But 
if we are selfish when we are small and 
keep putting selfishness stones into our 



ii4 Little Builders 


foundations, we will grow up to be selfish 
men and women. 







“We are building ev’ry day, 

Not with lime, and sand, and hay, 

Not with wood, and nails, and screws — 
Something better far we use,— 

Thoughts like the marble, pure and white, 
Smiles like the diamond, clear and bright; 
These the jewel stones we lay, 

Safe when sin is burned away.” 


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CHAPTER XVIII 


The Runaway 

W E HAVE talked about many kinds 
of stones, and there are many more 
we might talk about, but it would make 
this book too big. The ones we have talked 
about are the most important, and if you 
remember all of these and put them in, 
and throw out the bad ones, you will 
build tall, straight buildings. Your char¬ 
acters will be real skyscrapers. There is 
just one more stone, we should not fail to 
mention. 

It is spelled LOVE. You have heard 
the word love, and you know what it 
means. You all love your papas and mamas 
and your brothers and sisters, and you can 
think of others whom you love. And your 
fathers and mothers love you so much that 
they would not trade you for the whole 

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ii8 Little Builders 


wide world, with all the money, and all 
the automobiles, and all the candy, and 
everything in the world. So they love you 
a great deal, don’t they? 

And Jesus loves us too. He loved each 
one of us so much that He was willing to 
leave His Father and His beautiful home 
in heaven and come down to this world 
and stay for more than thirty years. You 
see, He wanted us to have a home in 
heaven, too, some day; so He was willing 
to come down here and live for a long 
time, and even to die on the cross, so we 
might some day be in heaven with Him, 
if we build good characters. That is the 
most important reason why we should be 
careful about the kind of stones we put 
into our building. 

If we really love any one, we will do 
anything for him. If we really love papa 
and mama we will want to obey and 
please them. And if we do this it will 
make them very happy. 

Your papas and mamas would be willing 
to die for you if it were necessary,— just 
because they love you. A father drove to 








Little Builders 119 

town one morning in a big wagon, taking 
his little boy with him. When they got to 
town the father left the horses out in front 
of the store, tied to a post. They were 
young and full of life, and when they be¬ 
came frightened they broke loose and 
started to run away. The father sprang to 
their heads and tried to hold them, but the 
horses were too strong for him, and ran 
down the road as hard as they could go. 
He clung to their bridles, until they shook 
him loose and trampled upon him as they 
ran. Finally they stopped, and friends 
came to care for the wounded man. They 
asked, “Why didn't you let the horses 
go?” He could only whisper in answer, 
“Go look in the wagon box.” They went 
to the wagon, and there on some straw 
asleep was his little boy, unhurt. The 
father was willing to risk his own life to 
save his little boy. It was love that made 
him do it. 

There are many people in the world 
who have no one to love them, and then- 
lives are dark and cheerless. Could not 
boys and girls love some of these people 










120 


Little Builders 



too, as well as just their fathers and moth¬ 
ers and brothers and sisters? It would 
make their lives brighter to know some 
one loved them. 

Although the best way to show our love 
to our parents is by being obedient and 
helping them in every way we can, they 
also like to have us put our arms around 
their necks and tell them we love them. 
That is worth more than money to them. 
You just try it and see how happy they 
look. 

A story is told about one young man 
who was very ungrateful and did not love 
his parents. They had worked hard to buy 
him food and clothes. They had sent him 
away to school, and father and mother 
had even gone without things they needed 
so he could have an education. Mother 
had worn ragged clothes, and father 
hadn’t had anything new for a long time. 
They even had to sell some of the cows so 
John could be in college. 

They had been saving money for a long 
time so father could go up to the college 
and surprise John by making him a visit 


















Little Builders 


12 I 


at Christmas time. Finally Christmas 
came and father was on the train, going to 
see his boy. You think that John was 
glad to see his father, don’t you? But he 
was not. When the old man came to the 
school, John was ashamed of him and he 
said rudely, “No, you are mistaken, I am 
not your son.” He didn’t want the boys 
to know that his father was poor and had 
to wear patched clothes. So he paid no 
attention to his poor old father. 

The only thing the old man could do 
was to go back home,— broken hearted, 
for the boy for whom he had done so much 
would not even notice him. What kind of 
stones was that boy putting in his build¬ 
ing? What kind of man do you think he 
will grow to be? 

Now you have all decided you want to 
make good buildings or characters,— ones 
that will stand when the storms of temp¬ 
tation come. Every boy or girl wants to 
do right and grow to be a good man or 
woman. You have learned that you are 
laying the foundations for your life now, 
and that you are putting in stones every 






122 


Little Builders 



day. If you use good stones now, you will 
have good lives when you are grown, and 
will be a blessing to the world. But if you 
use bad stones, your buildings may be 
crooked,— your lives will not be a help to 
the world. 

If we live good lives here, we are told 
that Jesus will some day take us to 
heaven with Him, where we can live on 
forever and ever and never die. May 
every boy and girl who reads these lines 
use only good stones. 


THE END 





Building for Eternity 

We are building in sorrow or joy 
A temple the world may not see, 
Which time cannot mar nor destroy; 
We build for eternity. 

Ev’ry thought that we’ve ever had, 
Its own little place has filled; 

Ev’ry deed we have done, good or bad, 
Is a stone in the temple we build. 

Ev’ry word that so lightly falls, 

Giving some heart joy or pain, 

Will shine in our temple wall, 

Or ever its beauty stain. 

Are you building for God alone? 

Are you building in faith and love, 

A temple the Father will own, 

In the city of light above? 

— N. B. Sargent. 


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